Study on Permeability of Concrete Fortifications from WW2 Based on Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry

Abstract:

Quantification of water transport properties of concrete is crucial for prediction of the material degradation processes. In case of 80 years ́ old concrete of fortification structures of former Czechoslovakia, its permeability is the determining factor of the scale of degradation. Mercury intrusion porosimetry was used to characterize the porous system of seven existing bunkers from the defence line ”Pražská čára” and to calculate the permeability using model of Bágel and Živica. Results showed the altered structure of the old concrete, characterized by no notable peaks, which mark the critical pore radius most responsible for water intake. The majority of pores are small micropores, which does not contribute much in the water transport. However, calculated permeability is high enough to be the cause of several degradation processes. The performed program also confirmed high variability of permeability properties between individual structures.

• Periodical: Solid State Phenomena (Volume 325)
• Pages: 162-167
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/SSP.325.162
• Online since: October 2021
• Authors: Jaroslava Zatloukalová, Jiří Pazderka, Petr Lukáš, Pavel Reiterman*
• Keywords: Concrete Permeability, Fortification, Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry

References

[1] V. Ambegaokar, B.I. Halperin and J.S. Langer, Hopping Conductivity in Disordered Systems. Phys. Rev. B, 4(8), 2612–2620, (1971).

DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.4.2612

[2] A. Aït–Mokhtar, O. Amiri and S. Sammartinot, Analytic modelling and experimental study of the porosity and permeability of a porous medium—application to cement mortars and granitic rock. Mag. Concrete Res., 51(6), 391–396, (1999).

DOI: 10.1680/macr.1999.51.6.391

[3] L. Bágel' and V. Živica, Relationship between pore structure and permeability of hardened cement mortars: On the choice of effective pore structure parameter. Cement Concrete Res., 27(8), 1225–1235, (1997).

DOI: 10.1016/s0008-8846(97)00111-7

[4] A. Aït-Mokhtar, O. Amiri, P. Dumargue and S. Sammartino, A new model to calculate water permeability of cement-based materials from MIP results. Adv. Cem. Res., 14(2), 43–49, (2002).

DOI: 10.1680/adcr.2002.14.2.43

[5] J. Pazderka, P. Reiterman, Czech WW2 concrete for fortifications: corrosion processes and remediation method based on crystallizing coating, Acta Polytechnica, 59(4), 359-371, (2019).

DOI: 10.14311/ap.2019.59.0359

[6] O. Holčapek, P. Reiterman, J. Koťátková, Non-destructive analysis of concrete from Northwest Bohemia defence structure built in 1937, Experimental Stress Analysis - 57th International Scientific Conference, EAN 2019 - Conference Proceedings, 2019, p.125–128.